(Today, we know that the Marianas Trench is a subduction zone, where one of the Earth’s tectonic plates are being pushed underneath another.) Subsequent investigation by British, American and Soviet research vessels using sonar determined that the Challenger Deep was actually part of a long underwater canyon, known as the Marianas Trench, that drops to depths of 36,000 feet, or almost 7 miles–deeper than Mt Everest is tall. This spot became known as the “Challenger Deep”, and it remains the deepest part of the ocean ever found. On March 23, 1875, at Station Number 225, near the Pacific island of Guam, the Challengermeasured the greatest depth it encountered, an incredible 4,475 fathoms (26,850 feet, or about five miles). It was the most comprehensive study of the oceans ever undertaken. At 360 pre-selected points, the ship stopped to take scientific readings: weighted ropes were used to measure the ocean depth, collection jars were used to scoop up bottom sediments and water samples, trawling nets were used to capture fish and dredges were used to collect sea floor life for study, and instruments were used to measure salinity and temperature at various depths. Over the next three years, she sailed over 70,000 miles. In December 1872, Challenger left on an around-the-world voyage. The British government provided the Royal Navy vessel HMS Challenger, who had her guns removed and replaced with scientific equipment. In 1872, the Royal Society of London set out to make the first systematic scientific study of the ocean floor, planning a series of soundings to measure the water depths and using bottom dredges to examine ocean sediments and sea floor life. The talk in Room 66-110 was hosted by MIT's Deep Sea Archeology research group, led by Professor David Mindell of the Program in Science, Technology and Society.Ī version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on March 19, 2003.The Trieste is lowered into the water. Piccard preferred Nestle while Walsh munched on Hershey bars. He showed a photo of the himself and Piccard inside the 17-cubic-foot cabin "about the size and temperature of the average household refrigerator," he said.īoth men ate chocolate during the eight-hour trip, Walsh said. in political science, and the Swiss scientist Jacque Piccard stayed on the bottom just 20 minutes before beginning the three-hour trip to the surface by releasing iron-shot ballast from the submersible, which used tanks full of 22,500 gallons of gasoline for buoyancy. It wasn't until later he discovered the gauge used to take the original measurements had been calibrated for fresh water, explaining the 2,000-foot discrepancy. Walsh said they were expecting the dive to be 35,800 feet, but "finally found the bottom 2,000 feet deeper" at 37,800 feet. They traveled slowly so they wouldn't hit bottom with a crash. The trip down took four and a half hours. (Challenger Deep is named after the British survey ship that measured it, just off the Marianas Islands in the Pacific Ocean near Guam.) ![]() Walsh piloted the Trieste on January 23, 1960, the day the bathyscaphe slowly dropped 35,800 feet-nearly seven miles-to softly touch the bottom of the ocean at Challenger Deep, the lowest spot in the ocean. Like Walsh, the Hooker is an adventurer, it takes deeper dives than any other sea lion or seal. The "real" North Pole is at the bottom of the sea, he said.Įven his interest in Hooker's sea lions seems a perfect fit. Nowadays, he's working on a plan to sell seats to tourists who want to ride a submersible on a dive at the North Pole. "I am a senior citizen," he said, "but I don't usually limp this badly." Walsh, who wore slacks and a short-sleeve shirt with a zip-up fleece vest, didn't particularly look like a pioneer, but he sure sounded like one. ![]() You could hear a collective chuckle escape from the audience as people realized that Walsh was the real McCoy, sort of an Indiana Jones of the sea with a near-perfect sense of comic timing. submersible in its dive to the deepest spot in the ocean four decades ago, spoke at MIT Friday evening, March 14.Īlmost immediately after being introduced, Walsh apologized for limping, explaining that he had bruised his leg while chasing Hooker's sea lions in Antarctica recently, during one of his 18 Antarctic expeditions on a Russian nuclear icebreaker. Sounding like a true adventurer, Don Walsh, the Navy commander who piloted a U.S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |